EPA weighs tighter smog rules for Chicago, other Illinois cities

Standard reignites political debate surrounding regulations

The EPA is seeking a more stringent smog standard to reduce the amount of lung-damaging pollution in the U.S. -- a rule that could affect more than 780,000 manufacturing jobs nationwide. (Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune)

Decades of efforts to curb air pollution have cut lung-damaging smog to levels far below the hazy days of the 1970s and '80s in Chicago and most other big urban areas.

But a growing body of scientific research suggests that smog can trigger health problems and contribute to early deaths even at these lower levels. Citing the latest studies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking a more stringent smog standard as part of a review required every five years under the Clean Air Act.

Though the EPA isn't expected to issue a formal proposal until the end of the year, an agency staff report released last week already is renewing a fierce political battle that led President Barack Obama to scuttle an overhaul of the standard before his 2012 re-election campaign.

Any changes would have widespread impact. Nearly 214 million people nationwide and 10 million in Illinois live in counties where average smog levels exceed the strictest standard under consideration by the EPA, according to a Tribune analysis of the last three years of federal monitoring data.

Chicago and other big cities that fail to meet the current standard would need to clamp down harder on polluters. Dozens of smaller cities, mostly in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast, would be forced to adopt smog-fighting measures for the first time.

In Illinois, the list of communities with unhealthy air would expand to include Rockford, Peoria, Springfield, Champaign-Urbana, Bloomington-Normal and Mount Vernon, the Tribune analysis showed. The number of monitored counties in violation nationwide would more than quadruple.